Finding Peeta Mellark
by Pandazrule101
Summary: Hello! This is a story about how Katniss finds Peeta but the twist is that it takes place in the 21 century/ I would love to hear from all of you and please review.
1. Chapter 1

I wake up from a nightmare only to find that today will be one, long, torturing nightmare. The only difference now between my nightmares when I am asleep and when I am awake is that when I am asleep, they are not real and I always look forward to waking up from them. But the thing about reality is that I have no way to wake up from the living nightmares because they are real.

I stare up at the ceiling and put together a list of activities my living nightmare will take me through today. Unfortunately, I have a killer headache and my brain is foggy from crying last night so the main thing that will happen today pops out in my brain. I am going to a funeral.

I tilt my head to the side to see what the weather is like today and see that it is pouring buckets outside with an occasional small boom of thunder. I find really ironic that it is raining outside because in every single movie that I have seen that has a funeral in it, the weather is always the same. It is always raining.

As I lay my head back down on my soft pillow, I remember one time on a rainy day when my father got permission to bring me to work with him. He was so giddy and excited that day because he had been waiting close to a year for the ok from his boss to bring me down to the mines with him. My father could not wait to show me all of the fascinating gems that he had found so many months before. I had never seen my father this excited before in a long time, so when I saw him like this, I was so happy for him. On the way to the work site, my excitement grew more and more because just like my father, I also had a fascination for gems. When we got to the site, my father and I were so excited that we literally skipped with our arms linked together to the floor were he worked. When we got there, he got on his knees and opened a slightly dusty box. My eye widened in admiration at the four glistening gems that sat before me. He explained them all one by one to me and each on I adored. But my absolute favorite gem was a foggy clear color and about the size of a golf ball. But what I admired about it so much was that if you looked at it on the right angle, it looked the shape of a heart. That night when he came home, he snuck into my room when I was fast asleep, and put my favorite gem on my dresser.

To this very day I still have no idea how he got the gem out of the mines. But over the years I have come up with three ideas on how he might have gotten it. He either one, bought it from his boss which is completely out of the question. Two, his boss gave it to him which I don't believe because on certain days he would come home upset and mad and started ranting at the dinner table about how awful his boss was. Or three, he stole it. And no matter how many times I run the scenario through my head that is the conclusion I always come to. Ever since that night I still have the gem safely hidden in my dresser.

I sit up in my bed and look at my alarm clock on my bedside table. Ugh. Ten-thirty. I think to myself. I have no urge to get up at all. But I might as well go down stairs because the funeral starts at eleven.

My eyes are stinging and puffy from all of the sobs I had cried last night with the remaining members of my family. My younger sister Prim, was the most upset. She didn't believe what had happened at first, she denied it and then started screaming and demanding us tell her were our missing family member really was. We all took it pretty hard last night but my mother was the one who completely shut down. After we had all heard the news of what had happened, she went upstairs to her room and went to bed. I had no idea what to do, so my first instinct was to go up to my mothers room go over to her bed and tell her to pull it together for Prim. But when I did this, she just stared into the abyss and totally ignored me.

I walk downstairs and poor myself some water. I haven't eaten since yesterday and I simply don't have an appetite.

I had thought that I was the only one awake, but when I am about to sit on the couch, I see my little sister sitting on the recliner chair across from me. She sobs silently sitting there by herself grasping a family photo and staring at it and stroking the person in the picture that is gone out of our lives for forever.

"Prim." I call softly from the couch. "Prim come here."

She silently starts to get up from the chair and starts to walk over here. When she is about a foot from me, she starts to sob out loud. She jumps onto the couch and curls up next to me. I hate seeing my sister like this, so when she starts to speak I cry with her.

She looks up at me, eyes puffy and asks, "Why is he gone Katniss?"

"I really don't know Prim. One thing I do know is that he is safe and sound up in heaven." I answer while brushing a strand of her hair out of her face.

"Our family was so p- perfect. And know its broken!" She throws the photo against the wall and puts her head on my chest.

"I miss him."

"I know. I do too." I know start to stoke her hair and try to get her to calm down, but it is almost impossible because It is so hard to calm myself down. After about ten minutes of holding her and stroking her hair, I say

"Prim you have to stop crying now. We need to go get dressed for the funeral."

"What about mom?"

"I am going to go and try to get her up. But I doubt she is going to come."

"Can you tell her that I really want her too?"

"Sure."

I slowly coo Prim up the stairs and into her room. I help her pick out an outfit, and the go into my mothers room. I wake her up with a soft shake on the shoulder. When she opens her eyes, she stares at me so intensely that I feel like she is staring right through me.

"Mom." I say. She doesn't reply.

"Mom…"

"Mom!" I am on my knees know squeezing her hand.

"Mom say something Please! Anything!" I am screaming at her know, and the response I get is,

"What do you want?"

She says this so harshly it hurts. So I return my response just as harsh.

"Get up. The funeral is today."

"I am not going."

"Yes you are!" I say ripping the covers off of her body.

After I have done this, she just totally ignores me to the point of tears. Then I just cant take the abandonment anymore so I just leave her there and go to my fathers funeral with my sister, Alone.


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter was supposed to be out last night but I accidently deleted it so I had to re-write the whole thing! Sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games

Prim grips my hand so tightly through the funeral I swear that she has cut off my circulation. She sobs silently through most of it and I admit that I had shed a few tears as well, but towards the end it seems like she just can not take it anymore so she throws herself into my arms. She sobs vocally now and I silently just stroke her hair.

After Prim had done this, I look up and find that the whole town has stopped listening to the preacher for about seven seconds, and looks at Prim with extreme sorrow in their eyes, and a few of them look like they are going to cry.

Because we live in such a small town, everyone knows each other. So when there is a funeral or wedding, guess what happens? The whole town comes. So at my father's funeral, its not just a couple family members and some close friends, it's the whole town.

Over the years our town ahs developed a small tradition at funerals. What happens is at the end of the funeral, all of the families get into a line, and one by one each family comes up and has to say something nice to the family who has recently lost one of there loved ones. The only problem about this is that nobody ever knows what the heck to say so everyone just says the same exact thing.

So at the end of the funeral, when I have my eyes closed while stroking Prims hair and trying to calm her down, each family comes over to us and says the same exact thing that the family after them had already said. Basically what they say is, "oh my goodness we are so sorry for your loss." And "things will get better soon." But after about ten families saying the same exact same thing just in a different order or phrase, I am about to just say, "Look! If all of you are going to say the same exact thing just in a different way, then leave us the heck alone!" I tell myself to calm down though and just don't lose your temper. But after the eleventh family I lose my temper again and am inhaling air to announce my sentence, when something, or should I say someone stops me.

His hair is soft and wavy, and it falls over his hair naturally. His eyes are deep ocean blue that remind me of a time when I went t5o the seaside with my father. He is about a ½ foot taller than me and looks around sixteen or seventeen years of age. This is perfect for me because I am only sixteen. He does not look familiar to me which is odd because I know everyone in town. He is extremely attractive and I seem to be in a trance from looking into his eyes for too long because when he speaks, he snaps me back into reality.

"I am so sorry that you lost someone you held dear recently. I wasn't supposed to be here, I was just going for a walk and I saw everyone gathered here and I just came over to see what was going on when I saw you. My family and I recently moved into the vacant house on Seam Street and I was going on a walk through town to see were everything was located." He stops for a moment and looks at me through sorrowful eyes when he tries to finish. "My family and I also just opened a bakery across the street from the grocer." He stops again and it looks like he is trying to find the right words when he suddenly finishes.

"If you and you're family ever need food, come by the bakery and we will give you as much bread as you need." He gives me a sad smile when suddenly tears fill my face and flood down my cheeks. I stand there about a foot away from this extremely kind boy and silently sob, while flooding my little sisters scalp with my tears as I continue to stroke her head not even realizing that I am doing it anymore.

"Thank you" I finally choke out. I feel so vulnerable standing there sobbing like this but I can't seem to stop.

I don't understand why this boy has made this emotional effect on me until I say the answer to my own question.

"Nobody has ever been that kind to me or my family before." I sob to him.

I stand there standing before this guy holding on to my sister tightly when the unexpected happens.

He walks over to me slowly and I must know what is happening because I let go of my sister, and the boy opens up his arms and engulfs me in them. This extreme act of kindness seems to trigger something inside of me because once he has done this, I start to sob. Not silently anymore, but vocally into his shoulder.

What is wrong with you? I ask myself. You don't even know this person and you are sobbing into his sleeve? What is wrong with you?

I want to listen to myself so much and be strong for Prim but I haven't been able to cry. And I mean really cry to someone ever since my father's death. And nobody has been this kind and caring to me except for my father and well, he is never coming back.

So instead of listening to myself, I melt into this strangers arms and sob into his sleeve. I sob. And sob. And sob. Until almost five minutes have gone by and I feel so comforted that I don't want to let go.

"I am so sorry." He whispers to me. This breaks me even more because this simple sentence tells me that he cares. And he feels my pain. I sob even longer now until I can't cry any more. I pull away from him and say one more time, "thank you so much." Then he replies, "Your welcome." And then he walks away.

I glance up at the rest of the families and see that they are all so moved by this stranger's act of kindness that some of them are crying as well.

After seeing the kindness one stranger can do, every single family member of every single family give Prim and I a hug and offer to cook us dinner whenever we need it.

But the problem is, I don't want these families' dinners our hugs. All I want is the mysterious boys kindness and hugs and bread.

On the way home I ask myself, why this bow was so kind to me and why he gave me a wonderful hug and when he didn't even know me. And why the hug melted my so much.

I don't know the answer but that doesn't stop me from spending so many waking nights thinking about it.

From that point on because I don't know his name, I call the stranger, the boy with the bread.

So on the way home, when Prim asks me, "Who was that nice boy who hugged you Katniss?" I answer back, "I don't know, but I am going to find out."


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! Here is the third chapter of Finding Peeta Mellark. Sorry it took so long we were having a huge computer problem and my brother unhooked the computer and it sat while we computer hunted for a week. But it is finally here. Dont forget to review!

My heart beats fast and i feel sweat trickle down my face as i try to calm myself down from my recent nightmare. It would be so much easier to calm down if my nightmares didn't do a re-run after it was finally over. Watching my father explode over and over and over again without myself being able to help him screws with my mind big time. But there is nothing i can do about it. so every single night, for the past month ever since my fathers death, its the same thing. Myself being binded to a chair and watching my father running towards me with the mines exploding behind him. Then, once i am about to feel his hand enclosed with mine, he explodes. Right in front of me. Its so torcherous especially when i can not wake from the terrors that engulf me all through the night. This horrible nightmare engulfs me in its clutches every single night. Sometimes, I just stay up the whole night and face the torcher of sleep deprivation because it is easier than watching my fathers limbs ripping from his body and occasionally watching the boy with the bread cut my legs with a sharp piece of my fathers exploded bone. The boy with the bread… I think. what is your real name? These thoughts encase my mind almost all day every day. Sometimes, when i wonder too much, i make lists in my head about what his name might be. Like i am doing right now. Josh is a good one, or Peter, or William, or Finnick…

Finnick! How could i have forgotten? I sit up straight out of bed and jump to my feet, while losing balance and landing on my tail bone. I let out a moan of pain and pull myself back up on my feet. I run out my bedroom door and am halfway down the steps when I remember that I am still in my pajamas. I run right back up the steps, into my room while slamming the door behind me. I wince at the sound not knowing that i had slammed it, and run to my closet. I throw on a white tank top and a gray zip up sweatshirt. Then I dash to my dresser drawers and pull out a pair of white, ripped skinny jeans and some socks. After i have pulled those on, I look at myself in my mirror and see that my hair has turned into a mat from my pillow. Because i have no time to wash it, i just brush it out and put it into my signature braid down my back. After i have done this, i run to my bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face. Then after i have finally finished, i run back to my room, grab my green notebook, and run down the hallway towards the steps. just as i rush down the first two steps, I slip on the third,and fall all the way down on my tail bone and upper back. just as i my butt reaches the floor, I realize that i cannot breath.

My mother, who was sitting on the couch, heard the tumble and ran to help me. When she realized that i could not breath, she told me that i had knocked the wind out of myself and that is why i couldn't breath. But this does not let me breath again. I am absolutely terrified and i don't know what to do. So i just sit there, and through this trauma I swear that i am turning purple until my lungs allow me to breath again. As i take huge gulps of air and try to slow my heart rate down, I realize that i am still late for the picnic.

I run past my mother and into the kitchen. i grab a basket and fill it with food, such as apples sandwiches as cheese buns that we get at the grocery store. I know that the bakery sells the real ones, but i have not gotten the guts to go down there. Just as i have my hand on the door knob, I hear a voice.

"Where are you going?" My mother asks me,

"Um. Out. For a picnic. I will be home later." She sighs because I am always out in the morning because this place always reminds me of my dad, and that I have my nightmares here, so when I am here, it reminds me of the nightmares.

I open the door and head off to my favorite place in the world to see my favorite person in the world second to Prim.

I am going to the Meadow to see my best friend, Finnick Odair.

Well, there it is. i am going to post the next chapter as soon as i can! please review!


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